Workday to acquire external workforce management startup VNDLY for $510M – TechCrunch

Workday announced this afternoon that it intends to acquire VNDLY, a Mason, OH startup that helps companies manage external workforce personnel for $510 million.

Workday helps companies manage finance and human resources tasks, and VNDLY fits nicely into the latter category providing them with software to manage contractors, a service that should come in handy at a time where it’s increasingly difficult to fill full time job openings.

Pete Schlampp, chief strategy officer at Workday, says as the face of work changes, companies need a way to manage contractors and VNDLY gives them that. Folding that capability into the Workday platform expands their capabilities with an offering that customers will need in the future.

“VNDLY is at the forefront of the vendor management industry with an innovative and intuitive approach. The powerful combination of our technologies and talent will help customers better manage their evolving workforce dynamics, helping them keep pace with today’s changing world of work,” Schlampp said in a statement.

Bringing the two companies together means that customers can manage internal and external workers from the same interface, saving HR personnel from switching context based on worker type. In addition, customers will be able to plan for workforce needs, regardless of the type, while managing internal and external compliance and risk requirements related to this type of worker.

The two companies were not strangers to each other as VNDLY lists Workday as an integration partner on its website. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter next year, which corresponds with Workday’s Q42022 ending on 1/31/2022.

VNDLY is based in Mason, Ohio, and it marks the latest exit for a midwest startup.  Other big midwest exits include Salesforce buying Indianapolis-based ExactTarget for $2.5 billion in 2013 and Cisco buying Ann Arbor, MI-based Duo for $2.35 billion in 2018.

The company was founded in 2017 and raised almost $58 million along the way, according to Crunchbase data. The company’s largest and most recent round was a $35 million Series B at the end of 2019 led by Insight Partners.